The last day in Houston

Sunday was our last full day in Houston, and this morning we will soon be driving to Nacogdoches to begin the actual Fodor's tour of the Independence Trail for Texas.  I thought it was odd that this tour we are about to take did not include the Alamo, essentially the big beginning of the war, or San Jacinto, the decisive finish to the war for Texas' independence from Mexico.  It will include Goliad though.

Yesterday we had only one disappointment, and that was that the elevator to the top of the tower at the San Jacinto memorial was broken.  Bummer.  Mark went up it ten years ago and said the view was spectacular.  Oh, well....

Other than that, the day went exactly as planned.  We toured the battlefield monument, the battleship Texas, and the aquarium.  Then we did laundry in the hotel.  We had planned to eat dinner at Denny's again, but it was 7 when the laundry was done, and we were tired.  We were also lucky because this Comfort Suites had a store.  I bought two frozen dinners: Weight Watchers Santa Fe Rice and Beans and Lean Cuisine Cheese Ravioli.  We nuked them in our room and split them.  Then we finished the Brussels sprouts left over from Thursday night.  Yummy and my calories were lower than if we had gone to Denny's.

Sadly the report for my weight is not good. This morning I am 271.2, which is a gain of 3.4 pounds for the week.  I know it was from the big kosher meat dinner Thursday night.  I am sure that if I had weighed myself Thursday morning before that dinner, it would have been a bit less than when I left on Tuesday, but I did not bring the scale into the hotel then.  Oh, well...

Very large collection of artifacts and information about the entire war for Texas independence

Picture of Davy Crockett and the knife he used at the Alamo.

Another exhibit was on the Mexican-American war.  Mark is standing with Santa Anna's gold snuffbox and Sam Houston's cane.

The battleship Texas is the only remaining one to have fought in both World Wars.

Looks like a city skyline from the future, but it's oil refineries.  They went on for miles and miles on the way to San Jacinto.

Houston skyline

Best thing in the aquarium wasn't a fish.

Beautiful tiger who was having fun playing with his ball.  Then he also leaped up at the glass as if to eat the people watching him, too.  Pretty spectacular.

Yeah, just like this!